AAR2 (after-action review)

AAR2 stands for after-action review. It is the form listed in NATO's Glossary of NATO Acronyms and Abbreviations, which gives the French equivalent as analyse après action. The glossary's full entry reads "AAR2, after-action review", and the number separates it from a closely related term.

An after-action review is a structured professional discussion of an event or mission. Its aim is to determine what happened, why it happened, and how to sustain strengths and improve weaknesses. Suppliers will meet the term mainly in defence training, exercise, and simulation work.

AAR1 and AAR2: report versus review

NATO's acronym glossary lists two separate expansions for the same letters. AAR1 means "after-action report", the written product. AAR2 means "after-action review", the discussion itself. A requirement that asks for a review calls for a facilitated conversation. A requirement that asks for a report calls for a document. Read the exact wording in a solicitation before assuming which one is meant.

The official entry is in the NATO glossary of acronyms and abbreviations. NATO's terminology database, NATOTerm, is maintained by the NATO Terminology Office within the NATO Standardization Office and holds non-classified military and NATO-relevant terminology.

How NATO describes an after-action review

A NATO Science and Technology Organization educational note describes the after-action review (written simply as AAR) as a professional discussion of an event. It enables personnel to discover what happened, why it happened, and how to sustain strengths and improve weaknesses. The same unnumbered form, AAR, is used in NATO material for the review concept, so a document may use either AAR or AAR2 for the same idea. The description is in the NATO STO educational note.

After-action reviews in NATO exercises

The NATO Joint Warfare Centre uses after-action reviews in its exercises. It describes the AAR as a planned event and a principal opportunity for senior exercise stakeholders to reflect on exercise performance, commonly after an execution phase. The aim is to identify positive points and lessons for improvement.

The review also feeds later work. The Joint Warfare Centre describes AARs as shaping initial reflections, first-impression reports, final exercise reports, and post-exercise discussion. The detail is in the Joint Warfare Centre AAR document.

An after-action review requirement in a NATO simulation solicitation

A NATO Allied Command Transformation solicitation for next-generation modelling and simulation shows how the term reaches suppliers. It requires the capability to collect simulation data to support the development and delivery of an after-action review. It also refers to after-action reporting and requires data to be stored in non-proprietary formats. See the NATO ACT solicitation amendment.

This is a NATO procurement requirement, not a Canadian government procurement clause. It does show the practical shape of such a requirement: the supplier's system must capture and keep the data that lets trainers run the review and write the report.

What AAR2 means for a supplier bidding on Canadian public contracts

For a Canadian supplier, AAR2 is a term to recognize rather than a standard Canadian contract clause. If you bid on defence training, exercise, or simulation work, whether for NATO or in a Canadian opportunity that uses the same language, check how the solicitation uses the term. Confirm whether it asks for a review (AAR2) or a report (AAR1). Then identify the capability being requested: data collection, storage in open formats, reporting, or support for the review session. Respond to those specific requirements in your bid, and use the buyer's wording rather than assuming a meaning.